New York Times article on the owners arch-nemesis Judge Doty - for anyone who assumes Judge Doty is some wild socialist because his rulings have favored the players, note who appointed him to the bench - consider the possibility the owners keep losing because the owners keep breaking the law
Since soon after his appointment to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, Doty has regularly ruled against the league. In 1988, he found against the league, in the Marvin Powell case, but was reversed on appeal. He then presided over the jury trial in 1992 that found that the league’s Plan B system of limited free agency was a violation of antitrust laws; Doty said he would impose his own version of free agency if the league and union did not negotiate their own, which they did in early 1993.

From then until Friday, Doty oversaw what became known as the Reggie White settlement and the N.F.L. labor agreements that followed. Much of that oversight dealt with appeals of decisions made by a special master. He has upheld some of the special master’s rulings in favor of the league. But this month, he reversed one, saying that the league acted against players’ interests in failing to maximize revenue from networks when it renegotiated its current television deals. He could thus prevent the league from using $4 billion in television revenue during the lockout.

But whether Doty would be the judge to hear Brady v. the National Football League is not clear. For now, another judge at the courthouse is assigned to it. ...

Doty looked back at the Powell case and said that team owners “pretend they’re getting beaten around.”

“Well, they did, initially, but they had a position that was not legally sound,” he added. Referring to Paul Tagliabue, who was a lawyer for the league and went on to become its commissioner, he said, “I think if you ask Tagliabue, he would say, ‘The whole thing has come our way.’ ” Although the owners have complained, Doty added, “all they’ve done is make tons of money.”

And it is money, and how to divide it among players and owners, that is at the heart of the latest confrontation. Not surprisingly, the complaint filed by the players on Friday reads like a greatest-hits canon of football decisions by the Minneapolis court, with references to the Mackey, McNeil, Powell and White cases. If Doty does hear the new case, it would be much like a veteran player reopening a dog-eared playbook.